English Explanatory Dictionary

germ

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.
  2. The embryo of a seed, especially of a seed used as a cereal or grain. See Wikipedia article on cereal germ.
  3. The small mass of cells from which a part of an organism develops, or a macroscopic but immature form of that part; a bud.
  4. A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus.
  5. The origin or earliest version of an idea or project.
  6. An equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood.
verb
  1. To germinate.
  2. To grow, as if parasitic.
noun
  1. a German person.

Pronunciation

/d͡ʒɜːm/ jûrm /d͡ʒɝm/ En-us-germ.ogg En-au-Germ.ogg

Word forms

germ germs germing germed

Etymology

From Middle French germe, from Latin germen (“bud, seed, embryo”). Doublet of germen.

Related words

german germane germen germinate germination bacteria microbe parasite virus

Derived words

antigerm apical germ pore degerm dysgerminoma epithelial germ germband germ cell germ-free germ history germicidal germicide germinal germination germinative germinoma germ layer germless germlike germline germling germogen germophobe germophobia germophobic germ-plasm germ plasm germ pore germproof germ-ridden germ theory germ theory of disease germ tube germule germ warfare germy multigerm pangermist wheat germ

Translations

Arabic: رُشَيْم Belarusian: заро́дак Belarusian: эмбрыён Bulgarian: ембрио́н Bulgarian: заро́диш Burmese: မျိုး Catalan: germen Czech: zárodek Dutch: kiem Esperanto: ĝermo Finnish: itiö French: germe Galician: xerme Georgian: ჩანასახი Georgian: ემბრიონი German: Keim Greek: μικρόβιο Hindi: रोगाणु Hindi: कीटाणु Hungarian: csíra Indonesian: kuman Italian: germe Japanese: 胚芽 Khmer: ជីវាណូ Khmer: ពីជៈ Korean: 배아 Portuguese: germe Romanian: microb Romanian: germen Russian: заро́дыш Russian: зача́ток Russian: эмбрио́н Slovak: klíček Spanish: germen Swedish: mikrob Tagalog: binhay Ukrainian: заро́док Ukrainian: ембріо́н Ukrainian: зача́ток Vietnamese: mộng Vietnamese: mầm
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